The staff of the Committee on Open Government is authorized to
issue advisory opinions. The ensuing staff advisory opinion is
based solely upon the information presented in your correspondence.

Dear Mr. Zolnowski:

I have received your transmittal of January 10 in which you
requested an advisory opinion.

According to your correspondence, you transmitted a request
under the Freedom of Information Law by fax to Erie County on
November 9. On November 20, you were informed by the Second
Assistant County Attorney that "In order to appropriate [sic]
respond to your inquiry, I am requesting that you set forth the
appropriate Public Officer [sic] Law section that you rely on for
same".

In this regard, I know of no provision in the Freedom of
Information Law or any judicial interpretation of that statute that
suggests that an applicant must cite a particular provision within
the Public Officers Law in order to justify a request for records.
On the contrary, §89(3) of the Freedom of Information Law states
that an applicant must merely "reasonably describe" the records
sought. Therefore, I believe that any request made in writing that
reasonably describes the records should meet the requirements of
the statute.

Moreover, the legislative declaration that appears in §84 of
the Freedom of Information Law clearly indicates that the statute
is intended to diminish barriers to access, not to create them.
The declaration states in relevant part that:

"...it is incumbent upon the state and its
localities to extend public accountability
wherever and whenever feasible."

"The people's right to know the process of
governmental decision-making and to review the
documents and statistics leading to
determinations is basic to our society.
Access to such information should not be
thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of
secrecy or confidentiality."

I hope that I have been of some assistance.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Freeman
Executive Director

RJF:pb

cc: Kenneth D. Schoetz, County Attorney
James A.W. McLeod, Second Assistant County Attorney